By: debbie lynn elias
With the bombastic success of THE AVENGERS, Joss Whedon has expanded the “World of Whedon” to now be known as “The World Is Whedon’s”. But when it was first announced that he would be jumping from the demonic “first evil” worlds of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel to helming one of the most anticipated projects in the history of film, many had trepidations. Could a man who made a name for himself creating not only original, clever and fun characters and storylines, but who catered to the careful, well-defined development of characters and relationships over the extended time of a tv series, be able to capture lightening in a bottle in a mere 120 minutes? During the recent press junket for THE AVENGERS, I had a chance to posit that very question to Marvel President, Kevin Feige.
Tentpole, rapid fire blockbusters are not something for which Joss Whedon is known. He gravitates to projects that revolve around more personal, confined relationships that are established over time. With that in mind, and knowing that you wanted a blockbuster film as opposed to Whedon’s known bailiwick, what is that made Joss Whedon the perfect man to helm THE AVENGERS?
Well, really one of the only big fears I had was that the whole thing would collapse under its own weight; that we’d spend so much time with costumes and super powers and special effects that these characters and these actors wouldn’t get the chance to – – my biggest interest in THE AVENGERS is the interaction between these people. And looking at Joss’s body of work and the scripts that he’s written and his TV shows, the characters never ever get lost. In fact, those are the ones – – those are the moments that shine. That was, to me, why he was by far the best choice to mount this. We’re confident in our ability to handle a production of this size. We want a helmsman to come in and steer it in unexpected ways. To guide that tone which is what Joss has done so well.
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